Picked up a 4-pack of Dog Fish Head 90 Minute IPA (only 4 for $8??) and a 6er of the same brewery's Raison D'Être. I shared a bottle of the IPA with my wife this afternoon and it may be the best IPA I've ever had. It's won all sorts of awards and, by golly, it deserves them. It leaves my previous favorite (Bear Republic Racer 5, no slouch) in the dust.

Now, I am about to taste my first sip of the Raison. It's Newcastle-dark in the glass, but smells nothing like it. Here goes. Bitter, and sweet. With many layers in between. Where the IPA filled you mouth with a banshee scream of HOPS!, this one yells too many things at once to decipher. But why pick it apart when it's just so good? I've never tasted anything quite like it. Perhaps the Belgian beet sugars ad green raisins used in the brewing process account for that.

hey guys.. just dropping in. its been a while.. and please, not lets make a big deal of it.. hehe.

i still need to post pics of the most MASSIVE BOTTLE of corsendonk you have ever seen!! i kid you not. my local beer guy here got them for me from houston back in the fall. the bottle is easily 2 1/2 ft tall. its a 3 liter bottle. it weighs like 20lbs.

i was gonna open it and drink it at my super bowl party, but i started on knob creek and coke around noon, and by game time there was no need for me to open it. and the bottle is equal to about a 12-pack, so i will need some help with it.

anyway, i will get those pics posted here in a few days. i just gotta share my joy of beer in huge bottles.. its just kinda cool. aint it.?

BTW- i did get a new 'toy' a few weeks ago. might have to post some pics of it too.(dirty minds stop here!!)

But John, it's a big deal indeed, because we've missed you terribly! We'll be waiting anxiously to learn of your new "toy" and except for our newer members we have a good idea of what you may have in mind for it.